I started taking the "Yangchen Rilbu pills".
Rinpoche explained to us that it is most beneficial and precious as it helps in improving our memory, concentration, understanding, among other things.
It is very time consuming to make as the monks had to collect many medicinal herbs in order to make these pills, and finally, blessing them with extensive prayers/mantras.
But taking these highly blessed pills are not as simple as popping it into your mouth like vitamins or candies.
It has to be taken first thing in the morning, without you having eaten or drunk anything at all. Yes, on an empty stomach. Then we have to chew it and not just swallow it whole. Once the pills are all chewed up, then we wash them down with water.
After which, we have to do the Gangloma Prayer. It is also known as the "Praise to Manjushri", and followed by the Saraswati Mantra. Saraswati is the consort of Lord Manjushri. She bestows the blessings of the arts, music, creativity and etc.
I will be doing this for a year in addition to my daily Sadhanas. We shall see if my memory improves. Hehe
Day Three of Week One: Tuesday, 23rd March 2010
No. Of Prostrations: 21 ( Check and Done! I am beginning to feel some slight aches and soreness around my shoulders and arms. Talk about being un-fit and un-healthy! )
Daily Sadhanas: Check and Done!
Physical Exercise: 35 minutes ( Yes, only managed to achieve the minimum requirement. Today was slightly hectic. My daughter, Izabella is down with a very bad viral fever. At first, te doctor suspect that she has dengue. We had to do some blood test on Izabella today. Yes, it was not a pretty sight. She was not happy but in the end, she found some courage in her weakened body and just went ahead with it. Fortunately, the tests came out negative for dengue. But that means, the viral fever is really aggressive. Izabella has been unwell since Sunday. By the way, I think it would be a good idea to start weighing myself each morning to monitor my progress, if there's any at all worth noting. )
Daily Reflection from “IF NOT NOW, WHEN?” - Ok, once again, I close my eyes and turn to a page at random. And today, it is Page 085.
Quote from Page 085 for Day Three:
" Saving does not come from an outer source, it comes from yourself.
If you blame others for everything wrong in your life, you give control over your life to them. If you control your life, you cannot blame others."
My personal thoughts and feelings:
Once again, the quotes seem to reflect what is going on with my situation on a day to day basis.
It is rather unbelievable.
These words are actually some of my personal favourites.
I remember a time when I used to assign the blame and responsibility to everyone else, except myself. And this always coincided with when things go wrong. Conveniently enough.
In life, things are always going to happen. Things will pop up and wreck your day or expectations of the day, etc. Whatever you think will go wrong, most likely will. Whatever you did not think will go wrong, will also eventually go wrong somehow.
Even people you know or love will at one point in time let you down in one way or another.
Well, because we hold a great deal of expectations about this or that, and everything else in between.
Secretly, deep down inside, we do imagine that we deserve to have this or that and people should be treating us with more courtesy, respect, etc. The list plays over and over again in our mind. And before you know it, we have become so petty that as if our hearts have shrunk into the size of raisins. Then our tempers will flare like the fourth of July, from 0 to 100 in less than 35 seconds.
When we realise that our own expectations and perception are flawed, then we can get through anything that life throws at us - without making it hard for ourselves and everyone around us. Its like when we sneeze, everyone else ends up catching a cold.
I am still working at my flaws as we speak.
Some day, when I grow up, I hope that I am capable of healing myself and also, capable of healing others at the same time. Then no matter who sneezes, no one else would need to catch a cold but gets a hug instead.
For now, it is 3/100 - 97 days more to go. Check and done!
Until we meet again tomorrow, here's wishing everyone a very good night to all and sweet dreams.
Way to go girl...yes, we're working on our own flaws as we speak. I'm still grappling with NOT playing the blame game or pointing my well manicured fingers at others. It's always more difficult to walk the talk, but I guess at the end of day, what matters most is we've really tried and will continue trying...no matter how difficult it is.
ReplyDeleteThis motivates me to work on my issues too. That's great that you are doing something positive about it. I really like reading the quotes and look forward to what each day will say. Thanks for sharing! Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteHey, you have done some improvements to your Blog. This is great! Damien
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